The location

I'm currently staying with Becky Paul in a block of flats owned by a Christadelphian here. Consequently there are many Chrisadelphians in the area.
Yesterday morning Beck and I climbed out of the bathroom window and into Kate Roses dining room window where we were joined by Kat Stevenson for a delicous brekky before the girls went off to work.
The flats all have a bathroom and a kitchen and then a larger room which is the bedroom, dining room, living room, parlour, etc
Pretty much everything is in walking distance. Last night we all gathered at their Olivet old people's home just around the corner and gave them a mini song and praise with about 10 hymns sung to a theme.
Not many people have cars here, so the people that do are forever taking everyone else everywhere.
Abi & I after the singing went to visit Keren Harrington & Amy Clarke and chatted the evening away.

Fellowshipping at Handsworth Ecclesia

After hearing so much about Handsworth from so many people it was nice to visit there myself.
It was a true report, that I heard in my own land, (and India) and the half was not told me.
It's amazing how much closer people can bond with a smaller size meeting. I particularly loved the option of prayer requests from the audience. There was a really caring atmosphere.
Beck and I were asked to stay to teach the SS a song in the afternoon and then we went back to Rachel, Myriam's & Sarah's for the afternoon.
Once again the sun was shining, and we started with an international outdoors tea party made up of ppl from all over and then we moved out into the garden and had curries for lunch. It was so lovely to already know the majority of the group and great to catch up with some people I hadn't seen for 3 or so years.
It staggers me how much tea the British actually drink. At least every 10 minutes the kettle was being refilled and plugged back in.
We went to the evening Handsworth meeting and then on to hear some Jazz.

I'm still feeling so very thankful that I'm here safely, and that there are so many amazing brethren and sisters to catch up with and to meet.

The Seventh day of the Seventh month of the Two Thousand and Seventh year

The parking procedures were very strict in the International Birmingham Airport. A week after the tried car bombings in Glasgow, there were no taxi's allowed to be within about 20m of the airport, and there were no cars allowed to pickup and dropoff just outside the doors.
Becky Paul cheerfully picked me up and took me back to her flat in Acocks Green. It was fantabulous to see her again. After some time we then headed off to the Shirley SS outing. It was such a perfect day. Despite the masses of clouds were flew through on the way down, the sun was shining, and it was hot enough to get burnt.
I met some lovely ppl and then discovered that Abi Mansfield, a fellow Australian was there. It was lovely to catchup and not have to feel such a burden on Beck. I met the rest of Beck's family and then her cousins and ppl from her meeting.
It was so nice to just sit and soak up the sun. Apparently I'd brought it with me.
The sun kept shining well into the evening and we found a gorgeous little place to stop for coffee. It was right by a canal and a wheat field, so we did some exploring and took some photo's.

A day and a night in Zurich

Arriving into Zurich, I took the train into the city and found a locker for my overweight backpack and then headed downtown to the lake.
The city was rather normal, but I feel in love with the flowers shows cascading from balcony's. There were markets open selling cheeses, meats, breads, fruit & vegetable's and I would've been quite tempted to stop for a snack had I not just finished consuming breakfast. They definitely wouldn't have measured up to our Australian Hygiene standards. I walked around the lake for a couple of hours and then stopped at a jetty and watched an old man pull in a fish. He then tried to talk to me in Swiss-German. It was real, my adventure had begun, I was in a foreign country and i had no idea what he was saying. He couldn't speak English either.
As I was walking around, all around me tents were being set up for large pavillions, and excess amounts of alcohol was being taken out of vans and set up in the tents. I found out that the Zuri fescht was beginning at 5pm. To celebrate Zurich they eat, drink, dance & have fireworks every 4 years, and were expecting 2 million ppl to attend over the 2 days.
I caught a passenger boat back to the other side of the lake, and managed to find the correct train heading up to a lookout on the top of Zurich. It was serious hard work. I think I read somewhere that the Swiss have the most efficient train system in Europe, or maybe it was in the world, but there were a lot of trains, and a lot of signs in German, and a lot of ppl who didn't seem to speak English.
There was a 10 minute steep walk to the summit of the mountain and then a incredible 360 view of Zurich and the surrounding countryside. I climbed the tower for an even more incredible view. On one side was a short stretch of land around the lake, incredibly populated, and on the other side were beautiful green fields and villages. Even though the lake was pretty, I thought the village would be lovely to live in.
The weather was very windy and it had rained during the morning, so the view wasn't the best, it could've been a lot more impressive in the sunlight. Then it was off to the hotel to find out if the Hot Chocs in Europe were as fantastic as the Polish lady on the plane made them out to be. I'd been feeling a little faint so went the whole hog and enjoyed a gorgeous pastry as well. Actually, the Hot Choc was given to me as a Mug of hot milk, and a sachet of ingredients. Wouldn't really say it was that different to Australia, but maybe that wasn't a REAL European hot choc.
On the way back down the mountain, I happed upon some wild rasperries, and made the most of them, then when I got down the bottom, now that my eyes were opened, I found some wild strawberries as well. They were only little, but very sweet.
Having checked all my luggage through from Singapore, it was a quick process at the airport. I would like to state at this point that I was over 2.5 hours early for my flight. I then waited an extra 3 hours after the scheduled time of departure before the hostesses finally told us that the flight was cancelled and would be rescheduled for 7:10am the next morning. There was a lot of angry shouting which shocked me a bit. How could the hostesses help what had happened? But hey, I was in Europe, and the people weren't happy.
It was a little hard for me as all the announcements were mostly said in the Swiss tongue first, and with a difficult accent, so i didn't always know what they were saying, so it was nice to have a lovely elderly couple to spend the hours with, and then to head on to the Novatel Hotel with.
It worked out very well for me (apart from me wanting to see the people in Brum) as I had no connecting flights that had to be reschuled or anything, and I managed to get a good nights rest in the hotel. I had also managed to get them to reschedule my flight for 12pm instead as I had no compulsion to arrive at the airport at 5am in the morning at all.
Then it was back to the airport, and this time I made sure I got the stamp in my passport. Proof that I had been there for just over 24 hours!!
This time the flight was only delayed for half an hour.
I just loved sitting by the window on Swiss air on the way to Birmingham, it was so relaxing looking out on the gorgeous fields, all a diffferent shade of green.

The Leaving

A Thousand and One Goodbye's were said before I left. It was quite an emotional time for me, knowing that if Christ doesn't return soon, then I won't see these ppl for a year.
Work was also very lovely and took me out to lunch and had a whole floor afternoon tea where they presented me with many pounds, for which I was very thankful!
Then all of a sudden it was the night before, and I was repacking the case, and racking my brain as to how I could fit it all in. Thankfully I had a limit of 40kg, but I still had to repack in Singapore as the limit for one case was 23kg's and put all my heavy things into my handluggage.
A Sydney girl (random fact: same age as me) and I were seated in between two polish ppl for the flight to Zurich which was a little trying. The flight went for 15 hours, and most of that time I couldn't hear myself think because the two others were talking very loudly in Polish over us, or the lady was talking to us about how horrible Australia is. It was mentally exhausting, and I'm not exactly sure how we made it.